Use this colorful map to locate and read newspapers from around the world. Click on map pins to locate newspapers or search using filters such as languages. Use the key to locate newspapers in each language. Yellow pins indicate English language newspapers, Spanish pink, etc. Don't worry if newspapers are not in a language you need. Choose the links provided to translate into one of many options. When ready, click on a pin to go to the newspaper's home website.

In the Classroom

Newspaper Map is a great resource for locating news and culture from around the world. Share with your students to show them different perspectives on world events. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare and contrast coverage between two newspapers. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here after reading and comparing many different articles. Explore this site during Newspaper in Education week or as part of a unit on the basics of journalistic writing. World language teachers can use newspapers to teach about both language and culture. Have world cultures or social studies students learn about local culture through advertisements and articles and share their findings using a screencast (or screenshots) of the newspaper and talking about their discoveries. A free tool like Screenr, reviewed here, works well for screencasts.

Pictolang offers four image-based language/culture learning activities. Visual Word Trainer provides flashcards with images and the word it represents from a choice of several languages (Arabic, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Spanish, and more). Choose your language and the type of photos you wish to find. Picture Match offers a word with an assortment of images to match correctly. Word Match is the opposite of Picture Match - one image is offered with several words. Choose the correct word to match the image. Both of these activities also ask you to choose the language. The most difficult game is the Analyst Game. This activity "tests your visual intelligence." One image is presented, you choose the correct culture represented by the image. (Try it - not as easy as it sounds!)

In the Classroom

Use Pictolang to help students learn and review languages on their own. This is a perfect site for ESL/ELL students, world cultures class, and world language studies. Display the Analyst Game on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and play together as a class or as a small group center. Discuss images featured and why they represent different cultures. Allow ESL/ELL students to explore the site using the ESL (North America) option to match images to the English word. This is a great link to add to your class website for world language (or ESL/ELL) students to use for additional practice.

Your spoken words are instantly changed to written text. You need to use the Chrome browser for this site to work properly. Just click on the microphone and speak. Follow simple directions and immediately begin to dictate. You need to the Chrome browser for this site to work properly. As soon as speech is ready, it appears in red, and you push ok. Corrections are suggested in red. If your speech is not recognized, there is an alternatives button to help you dictate correctly. You can also click on the speaker button to hear the written words played back to you. Click the blue arrow to move the text down to the larger text box. There you can store several phrases or sentences together. Choose to print, email, or tweet your message. Talk Typer is also available in a variety of languages. Be sure to speak slowly and clearly. This is best used with short phrases or sentences.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Talk Typer is a very versatile tool, for students, parents, and teachers alike. Bypass poor typing skills, dysgraphia, dyslexia, and physical disabilities. Use this tool in emails, documents, or anything requiring typed text. Use in your writing class so students can either write or edit their work. Use when you are in a hurry with emails requiring long text. Use for your newsletters or family emails. Share this on your class website and at Back to School Night. Emerging literacy students will enjoy the success they have with their oral language into written word. Improve content and forget about mechanics of writing or typing. Focus in on grammar and mechanics after seeing the recognized mistakes. Include this website on every tool bar and as a favorite on your class web page. ELL students can speak English, play it back, and correct it until it "sounds right" and expresses their ideas correctly.

Find three types of language games for students of English as a Second Language, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Spanish. Activities include Hangman, Crosswords, and Wordsearch. The site also includes links to information about the educational effects of playing games while learning Spanish (since the site producer is a Spanish language school). All the activities are preset, that is, this is not a site where you can make their own puzzles.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Provide a link to this on classroom computers for language and vocabulary review time for any language learning class. Challenge students to create a word cloud of terms learned on this site using a tool such as Wordle reviewed here.

Looking for resources to use on your interactive whiteboard? If so, this site is a tremendous resource for all whiteboard users, not just those with a Promethean Board. View, search, and download from over 60,000 resources in all subject areas and grade levels. Use the Resources tab to search by state standard, content, grade level, or resource type. Register on the site to enable download ability as well as many other features such as saving favorites, reviewing resources, asking questions on the technical forum, following specific users, and uploading your own resources. Each resource includes a short description, grade level recommendation, file format, and size. Another great feature is the slide show included with each download for previewing different pages used on each chart.

In the Classroom

Before you try any of these activities, think about how you can make the lesson more student-centered. Find ideas in TeachersFirst's Hands off, Vanna! Giving Students Control of Interactive Whiteboard Learning . Browse the site for interactive whiteboard resources to download for classroom use. Bookmark and save favorites for later use. Download any resource, then tweak it to your individual needs. Have questions about creating Promethean Flipcharts? Post your question on the technical board to receive helpful replies. If you have a SmartBoard, be sure to check out the SmartBoard lessons and resources page located here. You will need to download the ActivInspire software (free).

Comments

This is the go-to site for Promethean flipchart downloads. Most files were created by teachers. The only downside is that the files are hit-or-miss. There are many gems, but you might have to browse some not-so-great files to find them.Tim, , Grades: 0 - 6

Find out how to say a word or phrase in another language: German, French, Portugese, or Spanish. You can also work from these languages to English. This tool translates one or two words but is not a translator of larger passages as Google Translate or Babblefish are. Linguee displays two results. On the left, see example sentences from many sources using your search expression in context; on the right, see results from Linguee's editorial dictionary translating the expression in context. This is a submersion-like experience because it looks at a small amount of text in context in the target language instead of a one-to-one, back-and-forth translation. The tool orks wuite well with short, idiomatic phrases such as "ahead of the game." You can vote thumbs up or down for the various in-context translations offered. The reverse process is also available, translating from any of the European languages into English. Some of the words/phrases provide audio. Plans are to expand the offerings to other languages. The home page is also available in Spanish. You can contribute new meanings to existing entries, similar to a Wiki.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this in world language classes to show how key words and phrases appear in the target language. This is a useful tool, as well, to check for plagiarism of papers written in German, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. ESL/ELL students can benefit from backing away from their reliance on translation by seeing new words or short phrases in context.

Lingt was developed for world language learners and teachers. You can set up listening and speaking assignments using your voice recordings, MP3 recordings, images, videos, and text. With a free registration, you receive a class URL where your class can record their reactions and/or oral answers to recordings and assignments. You can also save the material you have already made for use later. The free registration allows you to save at least 6 assignments for the class you create. An upgrade does have a cost, but there is plenty of potential here for valuable, free usage. Once you have signed up, you can watch their very informative intro video. This video shows you exactly how to set up your assignments and what your choices are. The Lingt Community allows you to share your assignments and see what others have saved and used there. Students of world languages will be able to hear the real sound of a native speaker. Be sure to check out the "Product" tab to get lots of ideas for using Lingt.

In the Classroom

No matter whether you are a world language teacher, an ESL/ELL teacher, or a language arts teacher who has ESL/ELL students in your class, you will love using this program. Use Lingt for reading practice, commenting on or interpreting an image or video, dictation, and anything else your students need. Students do not have to register. Give them the URL for the class; they complete the assignment and submit. They will then be asked for their name and email. For younger students, have them use an acronym, such as the first two letters of their last name and the first three letters of their first name, and a gmail account you have set up for them. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students. This link about email registration, here, explains how to do this. You can see which students have completed the assignments and view them from your home page. You can leave text or voice feedback on the assignment.

Rhymes.net is a simple site that offers words that rhyme with whatever you enter in the search field. Indicated in the rhyming word are syllables for ease of use, and there is a set of photos for words searched. Choose from the dropdown box to translate the word into several languages from Arab through Turkish. Listen to the word by clicking on the speaker icon next to your word. The right sidebar lists popular nursery rhymes. Click to show the text of the rhyme.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

This would be a great site to share during your poetry unit as a resource for rhyming words. Create a list of student-generated rhyming words before using this site to discover words missed. Challenge students to use lesser-known words found through the site. Share with your school's music teacher to use when writing songs with students. Have students create rhyming word clouds using a tool such as Wordle (reviewed here), Tagxedo (reviewed here), or WordItOut (reviewed here). Hang printed word clouds on the classroom walls during poetry units so students see many choices or share them on a class wiki.

Use the text of nursery rhymes to create class interactive books using Bookemon reviewed here, or make student-illustrated "big books" using PowerPoint to create and print. (Copyright is NOT an issue for this public domain text.)

In world language classes, share a translated nursery rhyme each day as a challenge for students to decipher and guess the "real" nursery classic

Create a live Internet radio show -- free -- with Spreaker! This super easy online tool creates podcasts instantly for you to share with your own URL, on Facebook, Google +, Soundcloud, Twitter, or add to the Spreaker website. Follow others, or invite others to follow your podcasts. With a click of a button you are creating a live podcast. To create a podcast you do not need Flash. However, there are several tutorials, and these tutorials require flash. There is a free version and a more deluxe premium version. This review is for the free version.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Enjoy a live radio show from your classroom! Publish written pieces of writing, science reports, social studies reports, and any other reports you would like to share. Create a New Book or Book Review podcast for the media center. Link to your podcast URL on your class website. Publish directions to projects, explanations for difficult concepts, or even a radio show of you reading your favorite books for your students. Have upper elementary students take turns reading aloud for a podcast aimed at little reading buddies in kindergarten. Allow students to podcast to "pen pals" in faraway places. Record your school choir, orchestra group, poetry club, or drama club doing their best work or dramatic readings of Shakespeare soliloquies. Take your school newspaper to a new level with recorded radio articles. Be sure to include interviews with students, teachers, principals, parents, authors, artists, and almost anyone. In younger grades, use to save an audio portfolio of reading fluency, expression, or to aid with running records or even include writing. Be sure do this regularly throughout the year to analyze growth. Have fun at Halloween with your Halloween station filled with favorite spooky stories! Welcome your students to a new school year by sending them your message. Create messages for classmates who move away. Bring your foreign language classes an extra resource of your pronunciations whenever they need more practice. ESL/ELL, special education classes can often benefit from the extra explanations, practice, and elaborated instructions given at their own pace. The possibilities are endless! The site itself is a "web 2.0," social networking style site, so some schools may have it blocked. Ask about unblocking just YOUR teacher account so you can have students access it while at school and under your supervision.

Use innovative new techniques to teach languages as well as other useful topics: Mandarin, Spanish, Italian, French, Hebrew, Scots, and more. Learning is based on the use of three ingredients - science, fun, and community. One interesting "language" included is SAT vocabulary! "Mems" are used to help form vivid memories while including simple quizzes along the way to test knowledge. Grow gardens of knowledge along the way. Water your garden occasionally through review of previous topics. Find all topics on the site by choosing the topics link located at the top, right-hand side of the home page to find included activities such as famous people, animals, and world geography. Registration isn't required to use resources on the site; however, activities can be saved and reentered by creating a free account with a Facebook login or email information. This site is in Beta at the time of this review.

In the Classroom

World language teachers can use this site as a center or homework activity for increasing vocabulary skills. Share with students to use for SAT prep. Use the site to help students learn and understand languages used by classmates. If you teach a unit on study skills or work with learning support students, use the mnemonics on this site as examples to help students generate their own "memory jogging" tricks to use when studying for tests. Stop to analyze together how these activities reinforce new memorization. Get your students thinking about thinking! After learning some basic language skills, have students create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to demonstrate new language skills learned. Use a site such as Blabberize (reviewed here).

Comments

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Surface Languages is free site to learn basic survival words and phrases on a variety of topics in 37 different languages. Learn phrases in Afrikaans, Slovak, Arabic, Spanish, Bosnian, Swahili, Bulgarian, Swedish, Catalan, Turkish, Chinese, Ukrainian, Croatian, Urdu, Czech, Welsh, Danish, Yiddish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Russian. Phrases are organized into topics so use is simple. In addition to reading and hearing the words and phrases pronounced, the site has the capability of creating flash cards for each lesson. You choose yes or no to indicate if the card has the correct meaning. It also offers multiple choice items to test listening skills for the language and translating from English to the target language.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

This site would be very handy in introduction (and level 1) world language classes. Use this site as a learning station or center. Use this site as a reference for checking meanings of foreign words and phrases. Use this site when students are preparing a project about another culture. If you have students in world language, world culture, or even language arts classes who need enrichment - send them to this site to learn the basics of a new language or look for roots that show in English. self-motivated gifted students or those planning a semester abroad can learn language basics on their own here. Be sure to include this site during "Children of the World Day" or family heritage day activities.

This amazing site contains thousands of lesson plans and activities for students of all ages (ages 3-16+). Simple registration is required with an email address and password. Choose a grade range to search for activities. Note that terminology for lessons is from the UK, so you may need to "translate" for U.S. curriculum topics and spelling. Choose subjects then further categorized into topics. Many links include complete lessons plans with items such as PowerPoint lessons, videos, quizzes, worksheets, and much more. Other options on the site allows you to save items as favorites, follow other users, save searches, and upload materials. Another offering is the "Whole School" category that includes resources for school needs such as behavior and assemblies.

Word Hippo is a word study tool for synonyms, antonyms, and more. Look for rhyming words, opposites, translations to a variety of languages, plurals, definitions and uses for the word, etc. The site also makes suggestions for other words in case you might have made a typo or do not know the spelling. As with any other reference, students should be cautioned to be sure these are accurate definitions needed for the context in which they are studying the words. You will want to spell out consequences and/or supervise to be sure students are not searching for inappropriate words, but the most egregious words of bad taste do not appear to be available for search at this site.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this site for vocabulary development and word study assignments, such as writing sentences, paragraphs, or essays using new words. Since the site permits translation, this would be a valuable tool in world language classes, ESL/ELL classes, and more. Introduce this site on an interactive whiteboard and elicit examples to show the class how quickly it works. Have students create their own word walls with synonyms, antonyms, sentences, and more for their latest vocabulary words. Try a tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, for each student to create an online "wall" with words aligned to color coded stickies for synonyms. antonyms, etc. Alternatively, have students create class challenges for their peers with color coded matching activities for the interactive whiteboard matching words to synonyms, antonyms, and an appropriate fill in the blank sentence. Share this as a favorite on your teacher public page for handy reference any time students encounter an unknown word. Even subject area teachers such as science and social studies will find this tool handy for students with weaker vocabulary levels.

Save hundreds of dollars spicing up your curriculum with virtual field trips! This site has "field trips" to take, instructions for creating, and resources for other virtual field trip sites. Field trips for; Career, fine arts, foreign language, health and PE, language arts, math, library, media, professional development, science, social studies, and technology are given. There is a plethora of topics - perfect for research and "virtual" travel. The topics are too broad to list all of them, but some include tessellations, dinosaurs, water cycle, medieval times, Civil War, oil painting, and much more! Receive a detailed tutorial for finding instructions on asking permission for field trips, creating virtual field trips, and evaluating the experience. No bus required! At the time of this review, three of the links under "Visit Related Sites" were not working.

In the Classroom

Immerse your students into your studies with a close up in depth look through virtual field trips. Visit places where time, money, and mileage inhibit your dreams for bringing your students into wondrous worlds. Find ways to visit where your class has never gone before. Create a personalized field trip to meet your every need with the detailed tutorials given. Find ways to motivate your most reluctant learners. ESL/ELL learners will appreciate the visit. Reach all types of learners through a class visit. Use field trips as a whole class anticipatory guide, a center activity, a home connection, or even as extra credit. Challenge your gifted students to be guides to their own learning. Make your class go global!

This site offers a myriad of memory games, brain games, quizzes, and more. Train your brain to think! Interactives offered in a variety of languages include: Dragger, Counterfeit, The Game you Can't Stop, Masterpieces, Sudoko, Mastermind, Crime Scene, The Image Quiz, Anagramania, Square Words, Speed Read, and Spellice. Many other games are also included. After winning a game, you earn a ticket. The tickets let you enter the bonus room to win a surprise image.

In the Classroom

Offer exciting and fun ways to improve problem solving and creativity in A Game a Day! Challenge your students to go beyond and stretch their thinking in a variety of ways. The gaming format holds high motivation and interest with your students. Arrange contests within your class for increased achievement. Use in gifted and advanced classes. A Game a Day is a great center time activity and also can be used effectively for reward time. Use as examples for gaming formats with your computer classes. Challenge your students to create review activities for concepts and units based on the game formats presented. Preservice teachers can benefit for discovering the wave of the future: education through gaming. Use in your world language classes to increase fluency.

Join a community of online learners, teachers, experts, and parents, which provides variety and creativity in teaching and learning. Different areas of focus include Applied Sciences, English/literature, Humanities, Learning Strategies, Mathematics, Sciences, Social/Behavioral Sciences, Visual and Performing Arts, and World Languages. Within the subject matter, learning packets focusing on specific educational objects is presented through a number of medias including; audio, video, PowerPoints, or written text. Opportunity to ask the creator of the packet specific questions follows the information. Suggested grade levels are included. By getting a free account, you may contribute learning packets, questions, or rate a packet.

In the Classroom

Provide your students with reinforcement or challenge into the many different areas listed. Allow time for students to choose their area of interest to study. Create an account and contribute your teaching materials. Be sure to list this site on your class website as a resource. Encourage parents to visit this site to brush up on their skills. Challenge students to create your own learning packets based on your areas of study. Include your own personalized packets on your class blog. You can create a private group, so only your students may access your materials.

Curriki is a nonprofit organization that encourages collaboration of teachers and learners in a global community of 211 different countries. Find resources by grade level, subject area, or resource type (interactive, video, or podcast.) Usage type, or exercise, unit, lesson plan, or game, is another option for searching. Use the professional webinars for a better understanding of Curriki. Onsite training is another option listed. Join different groups for a more involved way to explore new areas in online learning, subject area interests, or focus questions. Be a peer reviewer offering comments or suggestions on submitted lessons, units, games, or exercises and give your input. Create collections of your resources to keep privately or share with others. Easily make lesson plans or web quests with the easy to use templates, which include graphic organizer and rubric options. Try a problem based learning unit. Join the challenge to create a video lesson for a chance at winning $5000. The focus of this site is to provide access to teachers, schools, students, or parents to many new creative ideas in a global community. Free membership includes monthly newsletters. Follow Curriki on Facebook, twitter, or blogs.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Curriki has a number of ways to benefit teachers and students. Use Curriki as a resource listed on your website for parents and students to have extra opportunities for additional practice or enrichment. Use as a way to organize your digital resources. The lesson plan and webquest templates are user friendly and promote best practices. While growing in your professional development by connecting with teachers worldwide, let your class learn with other classes worldwide. Curriki encourages you to think critically of your own lessons, but also lessons suggested.

Sqworl is a site for combining multiple links into one single link. Registration is required; however, it is very easy. You create a username and password, add your email and it is done. After registering, a personal homepage is created, this is where the magic can begin! The homepage is where groups will be created to combine url's. Then adding some groups of link begins the process of creating groups. At this point a title is given to the group being created (examples might be Math sites, American History, etc.). The final step is to add a short description. After choosing start, simply copy and paste the url you want to use and add a short description and click finish. Once a group is created, it can be shared through the url shown on the page. Sqworl also has a bookmarklet that can be added to the browser toolbar making it easier to add items to your groups without having to open the homepage. There is also a mobile app for iPhone.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

In the classroom use this site to combine url's of online class projects into one group. Create a group of resources for students or parents for different subjects and share the url through your classroom website or newsletter. Create a group with videos relating to classroom content. Create a classroom account and let students add resources they have found to groups to share with others. Show students how to follow other groups on Sqworl and share resources by creating their own groups. Share this site with others in your building or district as an easy way to save and share online resources.

Utubersity presents the best educational videos available on YouTube in an organized, easy to find way to watch and learn. The site can be searched in several ways. The home page offers choices of newest, popular, and featured videos. At the top of the page, you can choose from the categories of lectures, documentaries, or conferences. More specific categories of lecture topics are included on the left of the home page, here you can narrow down searches to areas such as geography, sports, education, biology, economy, and much more. If searching for something more specific, type your query in the search bar to find included results. Over 18,000 videos are available with more being added all the time, making this site worth bookmarking for future use. If YouTube is not accessible in your school, you could always view that at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a resource for videos to use in the classroom. Have art students use Screenr (reviewed here) to make narrated recordings about videos that they find on this site. Share this site with gifted students who are delving deeper into topics than your current curriculum allows. This is a great site to share on your class blog, wiki, or website for students to use for extra practice or advancement.

ThatQuiz is an online assessment tool for teachers of all subjects and grade levels. Create an account to gain access to record keeping tools. You can make your own tests using questions within the site. Students do not need to register since additional features are only for teachers. After choosing a category, different options are available within each of the quizzes to increase difficulty and add features. Quizzes can be timed or completed at the students' own pace. There is also an option to create a url for an individual quiz that can be linked to Facebook or Twitter accounts.

In the Classroom

Assign quizzes to students to complete on classroom computers or in computer labs. Modify activities for different student levels. Create a teacher account and modify quizzes to meet your own needs. Challenge students to complete quizzes and then increase the difficulty level. Share this link on your classroom website for students to access (to practice skills) while both in and out of the classroom. Consider allowing students to create quizzes for each other using a class account during review times or in small groups. It is much more fun to "study" by creating a quiz!